Located in Cairo,听Al-Azhar聽is one of the earliest Jami鈥(mosque/ university) complexes in the Muslim world. It was founded by the Fatimid Ismaili dynasty; the dynasty鈥檚聽Caliph,听Imam聽Mu鈥榠zz li-Din Allah, established Cairo as his capital in 969-973 CE.
The complex is so named in memory of the title al-Zahra (鈥榯he luminous鈥), which is associated with聽FatimaDaughter of the Prophet Muhammad and his first wife, Khad墨ja bint Khuwaylid. Also wife of 士Al墨 b. Ab墨 峁乴ib and mother of al-岣san and al-岣sayn., the daughter of the Prophet and the wife of the first聽Shia聽Imam, 鈥楢li, from whom the聽Fatimids聽claimed direct descent. Although it served initially as a congregational mosque for Friday prayers, it soon developed into a seat of learning. It has continued to exercise this role throughout Muslim history, attaining recognition first as the foremost center for Shi鈥榠 Isma鈥榠li learning and then, after the twelfth century CE, as a major Sunni educational institution.
Author
Professor Azim Nanji
Azim Nanji is currently Special Advisor to the Provost of the聽, and a member of the Board of Directors of the聽聽in Ottawa, a joint partnership between His Highness the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. and the Government of Canada. He has held many prestigious academic and administrative appointments, most recently as Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at聽, where he was also lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies. From 1998 to 2008, Professor Nanji served as Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.
Professor Nanji has published numerous books and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism, including:聽The Nizari Ismaili Tradition听(1976),听The Muslim Almanac听(1996),听Mapping Islamic Studies聽(1997) and聽The Historical Atlas of Islam聽(with M. Ruthven) (2004) and聽The Dictionary of Islam聽(with Razia Nanji), Penguin 2008. In addition, he has contributed numerous shorter studies and articles in journals and collective volumes including聽The Encyclopaedia of Islam,听Encyclopaedia Iranica,听Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, and聽A Companion to Ethics. He was the Associate Editor for the revised Second Edition of聽The Encyclopaedia of Religion.
Within the聽, he has served as a member of the task force for the聽聽(AKU-ISMC) and Vice Chair of the Madrasa-based Early Childhood Education Programme in East Africa. He served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998, 2001 and 2016.鈥嬧
